Broken Life
by foxmrdck
Summary: A magical item sends Steven in a parallel world, where his mother still exist. It's a perfect world for him, but he can't stay there forever and the price for the time with his mother is high...
1. The magic box

A magic box

Just when Steven went up the stairs to his room, he saw the dazzling white light from the worp pad. With a big smile he ran across the veranda and pushed the door powerfully open. "Hey guys!" he shouted happily. But he stopped as he saw only Amethyst, jumping off the worp pad sadly. "Hi, Amethyst! Where is everybody else?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Doing important Gem business, she murmured quietly and made a move to disappear in the temple, but Steven grabbed her hand and held her back. "What's wrong Amethyst? Are you okay? And the others?" She looked down to the floor. "Yeah. I guess." Then what's the matter?" She blushed and tried to shake off Stevens hand. "Moah, Come on Amethyst! Tell me what's bugging you! Maybe I can help you."

"Nah I don't think so..." She made a long break but then she started to speak. "I just ruined the whole mission. Like always. Now the others are mad at me!" She sighed heavily. "And everything for a stupid little box." Now Steven got curious. "What box?", he asked with big eyes. "Please! Tell me what happened!"

"Okay, okay! If you leave me alone afterwards!" Steven was startled. This wasn't the Amethyst he knew. But since he wanted to hear the story, he sat down on the couch and decided to cheer her up after she told her story.

"Okay... So we went on a mission this night. Garnet was obsessed to find some old Gem item because she thought it was dangerous. So we went to this place, the gems used to hide all of their gem stuff to keep them away from humans. It was pretty cool! Like a Gem Museum. Everywhere was this crazy old stuff. We just went through there and searching for something. Only Garnet knew for what. But then I saw this beautiful little box on top of a shelf and I couldn't resist. I climbed up before the others could notice, but while coming down I lost balance and fell of the shelf and the shelf fell with me. And all the gem stuff broke and it was a pretty huge mess and there were many broken gems, forming into all kinds of... bizarre monsters. After Pearl and Garnet cleaned the mess, everything was broken, and there was nothing left, so we never found this 'mysterious' item Garnet was so obsessed about. Then we returned to the temple and Garnet and Pearl disappeared into their rooms completely ignoring me... Aw man... I really messed up this time!"

She sighed even deeper when she felt Stevens arms wrapping around her. "Thanks Steven."

"Do you still have that box?" He looked at her with big puppy eyes. "Yeah! You can have it! I don't want it anymore... Maybe Pearl is right! Maybe I do have too much stuff already!" With her shoulders bowed she pointed to the small iron box she had put on the kitchen counter before and shuffled into her room.

As soon as the door had closed, Steven ran over to the counter, looking at the box excitedly. It was a small light silver box, with a black stone, formed like a tear drop in the middle of its with elegant black tendrils decorated lid. Even if the box seemed to be made of cold iron it felt comfortably warm as Steven stroke over it. Pretty strange, but to be honest, for human conditions, almost everything that had to do with gems was kinda strange.

As he carefully picked it up from the counter, he noticed that it was really light. Almost as if he was holding nothing. He shook the box very gentle, to hear what was inside but it seemed to be empty, since no sound was to be heard. Even if Steven had no idea what he really was dealing with he felt that it was something extraordinary. It seemed to radiate something... holy. Something indescribable valuable. It felt like he was holding everything he ever wanted. One part of him told him to open the box. To see what was inside. He had a feeling that it would fulfill his deepest wishes.

But it seemed that Steven's gem wasn't fond of that idea. It felt pretty weird, but it seemed to try to tell him to get Garnet and Pearl and let them handle it.

But Steven was known for his curiosity. So without listening to his gem, he sat on the floor, the box in front of him, preparing to open it. It was a really beautiful music box. The sweet melody escaping the box, let a smile appear on Steven's face. A little figure turned in circles. He didn't know whether the song nor the figure, but both seemed strangely familiar. Steven didn't notice anything anymore besides the music box. He just watched the figure turn around again and again, and listened to the sweet, soft melody that let him almost fell asleep. He didn't notice Pearl coming in, shouting his name, he didn't notice her panic or Garnet who carried him into his bed. Everything he could think about was that melody and slowly his eyes closed and he fell asleep peacefully.


	2. Is this a dream?

Is this a dream?

"Steven! Good morning!" A soft, warm voice, woke Steven up. He groaned and turned away from the voice calling his name. He didn't want to get up. His bed was way too cozy too leave it yet. He rolled up in his blanket and pretended to sleep. This was strange. The gems never woke him up. He could sleep all day if he wanted. "Steven! Come on! You gotta get up! Breakfast is ready and you'll be late for school." Now Steven was confused. Breakfast? The gems never made breakfast. And he's never been to that school. Connie, his best friend told him once about that weird place, but he'd never been there.

Big, warm hands grabbed his blanket and tried to take it away, but Steven didn't let go. Only as the person above him rolled him around and hugged him he opened his eyes and gasped. He only saw pink hair. "Lion! Get off me! I told you my face is not your bed!" The hair jiggled as the voice laughed. "Steven! It's me! Not Lion!" Jerkily he flinched back and looked in the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Massive pink hair, a warm smile on the pink lips and her eyes sparkled with joy and infinite love. Steven gasped. "Mom!", he shouted in surprise. The woman laughed. "Of course it's me Steven! Who did you expect?" He wasn't able to answer. He could just stare right in his mother's face, struggling to keep back tears. "Are you okay?" Rose Quartz was visibly worried. "What's wrong?" Still unable to speak Steven carefully, like he was afraid she would pop like one of his bubbles, touched her arm. As she didn't disappear, tears came to his eyes and he hugged her tight. Rose hugged him back surprised. "Steven? Are you sure you're okay?" He sniffed loud, "Yes! It's okay! I'm just so happy you're here. I missed you so much!" Rose laughed. "But Steven! I was only gone for a few hours. And when I left you were sleeping." Suddenly Steven had to think about the other gems. "But... Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl... where are they?" "I think they went on another mission." "But... Right before... I was in my room... and Amethyst was.. sad. She told me she ruined everything and then... She gave me something... and there was a light...And... and..." Rose smiled gently. "Sounds like you had a really intense dream! But you gotta get up! You're already pretty late!" with this words she turned around and left the room Slowly he got out of bed and looked around his room. It had changed. Overnight! It still was his room... kinda... The bed was on the same place most of his toys too, but where usually the stairs were was now a door and everywhere he could look down in the kitchen before was a wall. He closed his eyes and opened them again, but he was still caught in that bizarre dream. But he wasn't sure if this wasn't a dream. Maybe, this was reality... and that his mom didn't exist was a dream. Even as he pinched himself, he didn't wake up.

"Steven!", Rose shouted from downstairs. "Come on now!"

Like in trance he got dressed and went into the living room. What was wrong here? It all looked totally different. The window ledges were full with house plants. The whole furniture looked pretty expensive and like a real home. With a mother and a father. On the walls were many pictures of Steven when he was younger. Doing sports, first day of school, with his friend Connie... It was a relief for him as he saw the picture with him and Connie. At least their friendship seemed to be the same. But the biggest change Steven noticed was, that the huge portrait of Rose Quartz above the front door was gone. Instead there hanged a photograph of Steven happily between his parents. But he had to look twice. He almost didn't recognize his father. Greg's hair was cut pretty short in a decent cut and he wore real clothes! Not the undershirt Steven was used seeing him in. He couldn't stare at the new family portrait for long, because the voice of his father woke him from his thoughts. "Morning Stewball!" Steven turned around and gasped. Greg Universe sat on an expensive looking leather couch reading the newspaper. He really had changed pretty much. Not only his haircut and his clothing, but also he had lost pretty much weight and had a totally different behavior than Steven's 'real' dad. He seemed to be more... serious. He wore a black, formal suit and had his hair neatly combed. Almost as he was going to a real job in a real office or something. "Good morning, D..dad", Steven stuttered nervously. He really didn't know what to make of all of this. Slowly he crossed the room and sat down at the lovely set breakfast table. As soon as he was seated his mother brought him a huge plate with pancakes. "Here sweetheart. With lots of cream and strawberries. Just how you like it." "Thanks, mom!" But now Steven got suspicious. He already made a similar experience when he first entered his mothers room in the temple. Maybe he was trapped in there again... If the food poofed when he tried to eat it, he knew this wasn't real. But as he carefully took a bite, tasteful cream and strawberry pancakes filled his mouth. He flinched with surprise. "It's real! Everything here is real!" Rose and Greg both looked confused. "Of course it's real! What do you think?" "Em... nothing", Steven answered quickly. He had a feeling that it wasn't so good if everybody though he was nuts. "I'm just so happy about the pancakes!" Rose laughed. "I'm glad you like them" She turned around and continued making the dishes. "Oh, but Steven!" She turned again. "When Connie comes over this afternoon, I won't be here. I promised the gems to accompany them on a mission." Now Steven got curious. "On a mission? Can I come? Please!" "No Steven! It's too dangerous! And you meet up with Connie." Steven sighed. Of course. Not everything had changed. Rose seemed to feel his sadness and stroke his hair. "I'm sorry Steven! But soon we'll find a mission you can come along! I'm sure! And one day, you'll be as strong as Garnet and you'll fight alongside us in the greatest battles! I promise! Don't worry Steven! Your day will come!"

If Pearl had said this words to him he would have gotten angry, but something in the voice of his mother let him calm down and let him believe her. Even if he'd been sad moments ago, he had to smile at the thought of him, being as strong as Garnet and saving the world.

"Oh man!" Steven frightened as his father shouted out loud. "Steven! It's almost 8! You've already missed the bus! I'll drive you to school, but you gotta hurry!"

Steven stood up abruptly. "Yeah I'm coming!" He grabbed the bag his mother held out to him and sprinted outside to the Van, that luckily was still there.


	3. Dead or alive?

As soon as Steven got in the van, Greg started the engine and maneuvered out of the entry. Just now Steven recognized, that the house his parents lived in, was exactly the same he knew from the 'other' world. But it was placed differently. It just stood beside the street, that led to the beach. From here Steven could see the hill with the lighthouse of which back the temple was. Man, this was so weird. Maybe the other gems could help him. He didn't know what was real anymore. Even if it felt real here, even he felt that he belonged here... There was another world. But he wasn't sure if this was more real than here. His memories already started to fade. To Steven it seemed that someone or something erased this other world, like the writing of a pencil. More and more, all this, with his mother being alive, going to school in the morning, became normality. Slowly, the gems that were worrying and waiting for Steven were forgotten.

Pearl was still pretty mad at Amethyst as she left the temple to look for Steven. Why had this stupid little gem always to ruin everything. Maybe if Pearl had found the item they had been looking for, Garnet would have spoken to her again after the thing with Sardonyx. But now everything in there was lost. Everything. Secretly Pearl also had hoped to find something that belonged to Rose Quartz, but now... she didn't stand a chance to ever find a memento of Rose.

With a sigh and tears in her eyes she left her room, only to see Steven asleep on the floor. "Steven!", she shouted in panic, running to his side. She poked him carefully in the stomach. No reaction. She poked him a bit harder, but he didn't move. "Steven? Wake up. It's only 3pm not the time for sleep." Slowly she got scared. What was wrong with him? "Steven?" She shook his shoulders... nothing. "STEVEN!"

Pearl started up as she heard the temple door open. "Pearl?", Garnet's voice asked. Even if Pearl was glad she spoke to her again, she wished it was because of another reason. "Pearl! What's wrong with Steven? What did you do?" "Nothing!", Pearl sniffed loudly. "I went to look for him, and he just lay there... and didn't wake up." Garnet sat next to Steven and Pearl. "Is he breathing?" "Yes? I think so..." "You didn't even check..." Carefully she felt Stevens heart beat. "He's still alive." "Garnet?", Pearl asked shyly. "What do you see? With your future vision?" Garnet twisted her mouth. "Nothing. I see nothing. But Steven's NOT dead! That's all I know." She took Steven on her arms and went up to lay him on his bed. "We should call Greg! He's Steven's father after all." She lay Steven's head softly on his pillow and covered him in a blanket. "I'll stay here with him and watch over him. You call Greg and get Amethyst and we'll discuss this matter all together." Pearl nodded and got up to do what she was told.

So no one could see the tears running down Garnet's face. She seemed to struggle with herself. Steven wasn't dead! He was still breathing. But...

A jerk went trough Garnets body as she fell apart.


	4. New Friends

New Friends

It was the first time in ages that she felt movement around her, life. The first time in years that something pushed into her mind. Woke her up from her eternal slumber. Even though she didn't have eyes to see or ears to hear, she felt that someone was near. Suddenly she felt hope. Maybe she wasn't trapped here forever. Maybe there was a chance she could be free again. To see and to hear again, to get her life back. But now she was weak. So weak... She just wanted to rest forever, but now, that she had a chance She needed power. Something to feed on. Something that helped her breaking her chains. The thought of freedom was stuck in her mind. She had to do something. Maybe it was her last chance, she gathered her last power and made it to light, hoping that someone would notice her cry for help. That someone would see her weak shimmer.

She was lucky. She felt that she was being moved and carried away but she was so weak... too weak... Almost dead. Her last powers were exhausted. With a little spark of hope,she started to doze again.

"See you later Steven! I'm sorry I can't pick you up later... You'll have to take the bus. I need to go now! Late for work! Bye!" With these words, Greg turned the van around and drove from the parking lot. Now Steven was alone. He swallowed heavily. "Okay Steven!", he told himself. "You're gonna make it!" Slowly he went up the steps to the huge menacing building. He didn't think that there would be so many other kids.

They all swarmed noisy towards the entrance. It was difficult for Steven. Though he belonged to the smaller ones, he always had to watch out that no one pushed him. But he was lucky. As he finally had made it inside, his best friend Connie ran towards him waving and smiling brightly. "Hey, Connie!" He was unbelievably happy to see a well known face. "Steven! Finally! I thought you would never come!" "Sorry... I... er... missed the bus?" Connie giggled. "Yeah... that almost never happens to you!", she said ironically.

Steven smiled and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'm so excited for this afternoon!" "Yeah!" Steven only knew that his mom said she'd come over, but had no idea why she was so excited. "Our first sleepover! It's going to be soooo exciting!" "Sleepover? I thought you were only staying the afternoon?" "Yeah! That's what I thought, too! But my mom finally said yes! She's going to call your mom, and tell her this morning!" "Oh man! This is awesome, Connie!" "Yeah, right?" Their talk was interrupted by the school bell. "Oh man!", Connie moaned. "Maths! No thank you!" She took Stevens hand and pulled him down the hallway.

They were the first ones to arrive at the class room. Only the teacher was already there. "Good morning, Sir!", Connie greeted him and Steven hurried to do the same. "Steven, Connie! Punctual as always."

It took another five minutes until the class was complete. When finally everybody was quiet, the teacher started the day with very good news: "Since Mrs. Gordon, your English teacher is sick, the last two lessons are canceled! You can go home earlier today." The whole class cheered and Connie and Steven grinned at each other. "Yes! More time for the 'Under the knife' marathon!"

But now, the teacher started his lesson.

He distributed work sheets to everybody, to revise the last subject they spoke about. Steven was afraid. He had a feeling as if he had never been to school before. But surprisingly as he saw the exercises, he suddenly knew what he had to do. He started writing and was done pretty fast. The teacher was impressed when he checked Steven's sheet. "You're good! Not a single mistake. You payed good attention!" Steven felt a sudden pride in his chest. He couldn't wait to show his parents.

The rest of the lesson went by quick. Maths really was fun. After maths there was a short break. Connie and Steven went into the schoolyard and sat down on a bench. It didn't take long before some other boy joined them. "Hey Steven and Connie." Steven swallowed his sandwich the wrong way. "ONION?" "Yeah, nice to see you too!" Luckily Connie started to talk to Onion, so he didn't notice Steven's surprise. What was Onion doing here? And... he could talk... TALK! Steven never had heard a real word from him. And he noticed that he _knew_ Onion. Suddenly he remembered lots of breaks in the schoolyard, talking to Onion and Connie, going with them to Funland, or at Stew Pizza's... And suddenly he noticed, that he actually liked Onion. He smiled and turned to his friends to eat his lunch. Everything was perfect. He was right where he belonged. He felt as he had everything he had ever wanted.


	5. Broken Apart

Breaking Apart

When Amethyst left her room, she was greeted by loud sobbing and screaming.

She expected to see Pearl and Garnet, and wondered what was going on. But as she went up to Steven's bed where the noise seemed to come from, she got surprised. Sapphire kneeled next to the bed, crying and sobbing loudly, Ruby sat next to her, hitting her head against the wood.

Amethyst got scared. What was wrong? Only now she saw Steven lying in his bed, unconscious. "Steven!", she cried. "What's wrong with him." "We don't know... But... He's not going to wake up again...", Sapphire sobbed. Ruby snorted with rage. "HE. IS. NOT. DEAD. Only because you can't see his future, it doesn't mean he's dead." "What?" Amethyst was beside herself. "What do you mean? Steven's dead?" "NO!", Ruby shouted. "We don't know what happened. But I know he is NOT DEAD! I mean... look as his gem!" She pulled up Steven's shirt. "It's intact. And he is breathing. I mean..." They were interrupted by Greg, bursting into the room, followed by Pearl. Sapphire stopped crying abruptly and tried to look a bit more hopeful. "STEVEN! Where is he? Where is my son? What's wrong with him?" He pushed Ruby and Sapphire aside, not even noticing that Garnet split apart and fell on his knees next to Steven. "What's wrong with him? Is he breathing? Did someone call an ambulance?" Pearl, who was right behind Greg put a hand on his shoulder. "He's half gem. They would seduce him and keep him as a lab rat if we brought him in a human hospital. We have to deal with it by our own. But I'm sure he's going to be fine again soon!" "Sure!", Amethyst agreed. "He'll be back before you know it." Ruby and Sapphire nodded. "Can I be alone with him for a second?", Greg asked, tears streaming all over his face. "Yeah, sure! But don't worry! It's just something that happens to gems from time to time.", Pearl said in a soft voice. The others were surprised. Normally she hated Greg, but now it seemed like she really cared about him... Maybe just because of Steven. "We'll go into the temple." "Yeah!", Ruby agreed. "We will find something that can help Steven. Promise!" She pulled a crying Sapphire with her and all four of them disappeared into the temple.

They felt guilty for lying to Greg, but it was only for the best. They knew how fragile human beings were. Now, that they didn't have to pretend to be optimistic, Sapphire started to cry again. Pearl and Amethyst joined her soon, only Ruby was optimistic. "Come on guys." He kneeled next to Sapphire. "Sapphire! Come on! There's no need to cry! We don't know what happened to Steven. If we find out what's wrong with him, we might find a way to deal with it and get him back." She stroke Sapphire's hair softly off her face and looked at her eye. "Don't give up on him. He's strong, he can make it!" Sapphire , sniffed and wiped her tears away. "Ruby is right!", she announced, almost being her cold and calm self again. "There's no use in crying and mourning. We need to find out what's wrong with him and heal him." She smiled at Ruby, who hugged her. "Let's fuse again. Steven needs Garnet more than the two of us." Ruby kissed her and the others looked away in embarrassment as they disappeared in a bright flash.

"Okay, so now that we agreed that Steven is alive... What do you think happened to him?", Garnet asked. "Maybe it is a human illness?" "Unlikely", Amethyst made her point. "I mean... he's half gem... And he never had any human illnesses." Pearl wrinkled her brows. "Yeah, you're right... But... is there any other explanation?" "Uh... maybe...", Amethyst admitted feeling guilty. "You remember that box I took from the last mission..." "You mean the one you fell off the shelf for?" "Yeah... Garnet, you said it wasn't worth anything, that there was no magic in it... So I gave it to Steven... But maybe... maybe it had some kind of effect on Steven..." "But..." Garnet sounded concerned. "I checked it... there was no power in it. And if... only a very tiny little bit. Not strong enough to do something like that." "But Garnet", Pearl interrupted. "Maybe that's exactly what it's doing. Using Steven as a power source." "Yeah, that would be a possibility. But to do that, the box with the gem had to be near him... Did anyone of you see this box." Everybody shook their head. "But if it really is that box, it has to be near Steven. Let's go and look for it!"

They went back into the temple just to see that Greg fell asleep sitting next to Steven's bed, his tears still wet from crying. Quietly they started looking for the gem who took Steven away from them.


End file.
